Train
Train (トレイン, Torein) is chapter 44 of the ǝnígmǝ manga. Summary A voice tells Sumio as ǝnígmǝ to board a 12:04 train bound for Gaikotsu Island. Sumio wakes up in his room and realizes it was just a dream. It's been four days since the day he wished the skull destroyed. He explains that nothing has happened since and that everyone has went back into their normal lives. He wonders if his wish can't be granted or if he was using it wrong. With Mina still sleeping, he goes into the kitchen for a glass of milk. From his phone, he receives a text message from Kijima, titled "Urgent Business". He tells Sumio to wait at Yūyami Hospital's old Ward #3. At the entrance, Sumio comments on the building in ruins and wonders if he even showed up in the right place. Coming inside, he marvels at the cleanliness of the inside of the building. He spots all of his friends from the fifth e-test sitting in the waiting area. He asks if they too were recruited by Kijima. Moto confirms his statement. Kijima appears. He explains to Sumio that he created the building they are in and made it so that no one but themselves could come in. Following Kijima down the hallway, Sumio asks him why he called everyone here. Kijima opens the door to a room, where he had kept the black bag he found earlier. With Shigeru and Aru covering their eyes in horror, he shows everyone his findings: a human being whose bones have vanished. Kijima explains he had Matsurigi set up a breathing apparatus and other devices for a life-supporting system. As Sumio glances at the victim, Kijima explains that he had an Talent too, that he also attended the Yūyami High School festival. He then reveals that over the past few days, other people have been attacked by the "enemy" too, that its means of attacking have changed. He claims everyone should have seen the "enemy" earlier, to which Sumio immediately recalls Kirio's memory. Kijima calls this presence the "Cannibal", the one entrapping Yumikawa and Kirio. He predicts that it eat Talent holders, and that by doing so, it gains their Talents. Shocked, Sumio asks how. Kijima doesn't know, but claims its one goal is to gain powers, including chasing after Sumio and his skull. Sudō confidently promises to catch the "enemy", while Kurisu promises to make sure it doesn't lay a hand on him. Kijima reminds them that their real goal isn't to fight, but to protect the skull, that everything ends if it disappears. Sumio claims he wished for it to, but that nothing happened so far. Kijima explains that the wishes made on the skull come true by warping other people's destinies under a time delay. Kijima recalls the same thing happening with Kirio when he created the e-test, where he first put his own destiny under his control. Predicting that the skull will cause misfortune around it in compensation, he urges everyone to make sure the wish comes true while preventing anyone's destiny from becoming warped. Kijima thinks Kirio knew this too, hence the reason he people together. He claims once the skull's power starts to run rampant, it'll be hard to stop. He then promises to do everything he can, but wants everyone to be prepared with the bonds they have to seek the future they want. The eight are ready for this new challenge, especially Sumio, knowing he doesn't have a choice. Putting on a friendly face for seeing a group assembled, Kijima is delighted to be their teacher. Aru is delighted too as Kijima accidentally slaps Sumio too hard in the back. Sudō is a bit irritated about his change of attitude as a teacher. Afterwards, Sumio and Shigeru leave Moto just before entering Yūyami Station. On a platform, Shigeru is surprised at the volume of passengers, which Sumio claims comes from how it's Saturday. Shigeru accidentally bumps into a person and scares herself. Sumio taunts her to stop helping him, claiming it's dangerous. Bothered, Shigeru claims she is fine but that she worries about Kirio, even though Kijima claimed he was planning something. Sumio asks her about how she always wanted to see Kirio again forever. Shigeru agrees and asks the same question back to him. Sumio claims to as well, but realizes that Shigeru had always felt the same way about Kirio. He grabs her from the back and the two of them look at each other. Suddenly, his cell phone rings, displaying an incoming call from a public telephone. He tells Shigeru to wait as he walks to a less crowded area of the platform. A voice asks if it's Sumio, to which Sumio shockingly recognizes the voice: the voice of his father. Immediately, Sumio is in disbelief and tells him how worried Mina is. From a telephone booth sheltered from rain, his silhouetted father interrupts him and quickly tells him to board the 12:04 train bound for Gaikotsu Island, and to try to aim for the terminal station. He explains that this place is the end of the world where the skull's grave site is, a place where a person will become a human sacrifice. Meanwhile, Shigeru wipes her eyes and the display screen above her distorts itself. Sumio's father then hangs up on him. Sumio tries to contact him again, but to no avail. Sumio realizes his father must know something about ǝnígmǝ, and since the train must have something to do with it, he had to call him about it. Not knowing of a train by that name, he starts to think about this human sacrifice. Suddenly, he hears a scream from Shigeru. He rushes over to her to see her crying with another prediction. She predicts that the city will be over tomorrow, that people will start to disappear continuously because of the skull, and that no one will ever come back again. With Shigeru sitting against the wall, Sumio asks her if it's because of the skull or his wish. A black stain in the wall appears as Shigeru pleads to Sumio for help. As she tells him not to leave her alone in this dark train station, the black stain gets bigger, eventually swallowing her in. With Shigeru gone, Sumio starts to worry about her disappearance as he tries to go through the stain in the wall. He realizes that it's the same kind of stain that appeared when Mina disappeared and comes to realize that the skull may have forcibly moved her. Recalling what his father said about a human sacrifice at the terminal station, he wonders if his wish caused all this. Suddenly, the station intercom announces the train to Gaikotsu Island arriving on Line 2 and tells passengers to wait behind the white line. The passengers are confused with the announcement as the train rolls into the station. As the train, reading "Express to Gaikotsu Island", enters the station, Sumio spots everyone around him disappearing. Sumio starts to get nervous about Shigeru's prediction becoming true. He tries to calm himself down in his mind, reminding himself he decided he was prepared. The train announces the station and it's destination, telling passengers to board and wait for departure. As Sumio prepares to enter the train, he thinks of the skull and Shigeru at the terminal station. Characters in order of appearance #Sumio Haiba #Mina Haiba #Ryō Kurisu #Jirō Matsurigi #Takemaru Sudō #Hiina Kujōin #Moto Hasekura #Aru Mizusawa #Shigeru Kurumiya #Yūta Kijima #Cannibal (flashback) #Kirio Imizuka (flashback) #Sumio's Father Navigation Category:Chapters